Form for portable concrete building module

ABSTRACT

The form is used for casting wall portions of a single rectangular room as a modulator unit to be assembled with other such units and floor and ceiling structure to build homes, apartment houses and other buildings. The form comprises a core form and two exterior forms. The core form is contractable in all directions for stripping. The two exterior forms are L-shaped, each embracing one end wall and one sidewall of the room, these forms being supported by trolleys on diagonal tracks for movement away from each other in stripping.

United States Patent 796,789 8/1905 Adam 249/180 1,047,102 12/1912 Meinken 249/179 2,578,310 12/1951 Lager.... 249/179 2,616,146 11/1952 l-laase.... 25/130B 3,288,425 ll/1966 Dorris 249/144 X 1,162,961 12/1915 Williams... 249/180 2,708,782 5/1955 Jessen 25/1 31.6

Primary Examiner-J. Howard Flint, .lr. Attorney-Lee R. Schermerhorn ABSTRACT: The form is used for casting wall portions of a single rectangular room as a modulator unit to be assembled with other such units and floor and ceiling structure to build homes, apartment houses and other buildings. The form comprises a core form and two exterior forms. The core form is contractable in all directions for stripping. The two exterior forms are L-shaped, each embracing one end wall and one sidewall of the room, these forms being supported by trolleys on diagonal tracks for movement away from each other in stripping.

PAIENTEBBBI 19 .'8HEET 10F 3 INVENTOR. ROBERT W. BEASLEY mm mm 3.614.054

I SHEET 2 UF 3 INVENTOR. ROBERT W. BEASLEY PATENIEuncI 19 I97! 3, 6 1 4. 054

, sum 3 OF 3 INVENTOR. ROBERT W. BEASLEY FORM FOR PORTABLE CONCRETE BUILDING MODULE BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to an improved form for portable concrete building modules and the like and has particular reference to a form for casting the wall portions of a single rectangular room as a modular unit to be assembled with other such units and floor and ceiling structures in a building construction.

According to conventional practice, buildings having a wood or steel frame are constructed piece by piece, first erecting the frame and then installing floors and walls piece by piece on the frame. In concrete construction the necessary forms are built up progressively as the concrete is poured. Substantially all of the construction work is done in the field, making the operation slow and costly. Attempts have been made to prefabricate certain parts and this reduces the field work to some extent but does not essentially change the ageold methods of construction.

Objects of the present invention are, therefore, to provide a form for portable concrete building modules so that a building may be constructed essentially by merely assembling large prefabricated units in the manner of building blocks, to provide a form for casting the wall portions of an entire room as a single portable unit and to provide a form for a building module having a collapsible core and rollaway exterior form parts.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present form comprises a contractable core form and two exterior L-shaped forms for casting the wall portions of a rectangular room as a single portable unit. The core form has a continuous peripheral skin. A vertically movable frame within the core fonn pulls the central portion of each side inwardly. As the four sides are caused to bow inwardly, the corner portions also contract inwardly thereby efi'ecting the stripping of the core form. The L-shaped exterior forms are rigid and mounted on trolleys to roll away from each other in a diagonal direction for stripping. The cast module may then be lifted out vertically. The principles of the invention may also be applied to forms for modules which are not rectangular.

The invention will be better understood and additional objects and advantages will become apparent from the following description of the preferred embodiment illustrated in the accompanying drawings. Various changes may be made in the details of construction and arrangement of parts and certain features may be used without others. All such modifications are included in the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a plan view with parts broken away, showing a form for portable concrete building modules embodying the principles of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view on the line 2-2 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view on the line 3-3 in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged sectional view on the line 4-4 in FIG. I;

FIG. 5 is a fragmentary enlarged view showing a detail in FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a fragmentary enlarged sectional view showing a detail in FIG. I; and

FIG. 7 is a diagrammatic top plan view showing the stripping of the forms.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT The invention will be better understood by referring first to FIG. 7 showing the stripping of the forms from the concrete module M. Core form C comprises a continuous flexible peripheral skin having four sides to form the walls of a rectangular room. The central portion of each side has been pulled inwardly as indicated by the arrows 10. As the sides bow inwardly, the adjacent cornersare moved closer together causing the corners to move inwardly also. These movements free all parts of the core fonn from the module.

The two exterior forms E. and F are rigid and of LII-shape, each embracing one sidewall and one end wall of the module. In stripping, these two forms move away from each other in diagonal directions as indicated by the arrows 11. The module is then free to be lifted vertically out of the forms and transported to the building site.

Referring now to FIGS. 1 and 3, the core C has a continuous peripheral sheet metal skin 15 extending around the four sides of the core. A vertical gusset plate 16 is welded to the skin 15 at the middle of each side and at spaced intervals additional vertical gusset plates 17 are welded to the skin. The interior edges of gussets 17 have flanges l8 and the interior edges of the middle gussets 16 have flanges 19.

The flanges 19 of middle gussets 16 are welded to a plurality of horizontal walers 20 whereas the flanges 18 of the other gussets 17 are not connected to the walers. The opposite ends of each waler 20 are equipped with slotted wedge brackets 21 to receive vertical wedges 22. The middle of each waler 20 is secured to a vertical beam 24.

The core is expanded and contracted by a vertically movable core stripping frame 25. Frame 25 has a plurality of Iongitudinal horizontal members 26 and a plurality of transverse horizontal members 27 disposed in the center of the core midway between the walers 20 on the opposite sides. The ends of longitudinal members 26 are welded to a pair of vertical tubes 28 and the ends of transverse members 27 are welded to a pair of vertical tubes 29. The tubes 28 are slidable on a pair of cylindrical vertical guides 30 which are mounted on a pallet frame 31. Pallet frame 31 supports core stripping frame 25 and the entire core C.

Core stripping frame 25 is raised and lowered on guides 30 by a pair of screwjacks 35 as shown in FIG. 3. Each jack 35 is mounted on a support tube 36 on pallet frame 31. The jackscrews are connected at 37 with the lower beam 26 of frame 25. The jackscrews are raised and lowered by nuts which are rotated by shafts 38 from a gear box 40 by means of a handcrank 41. Gear box 40 is mounted on a support 42 on pallet frame 31.

Each tube 28 and 29 is equipped with upper and lower verticalcam plates 45, each having an inclined cam slot 46. Each vertical beam 24 is equipped with brackets 47 carrying cam follower rollers 48 disposed in the cam slots 46. When frame 25 is in lower position as shown in FIG. 3, rollers 48 are disposed in the upper ends of cam slots 46 causing the core to be expanded to operative position. In order to prevent deflection of vertical beams 24, these beams and the tubes 28 and 29 are equipped at midheight with opposed slotted wedge brackets 49 to receive wedges 50. These wedges are approximately on the same level as the intermediate horizontal members 26 and 27 of frame 25. Walers 20 bear against flanges 18 of gussets 17 as shown in FIG. 1 to prevent deflection of core skin 15 from the fluid pressure of the concrete when the concrete is poured into the form.

In order to contract the core for stripping, the wedges 22 and 50 are removed and the stripping frame 25 is raised by rotation of the crankhandle 41 which operates the screwjacks 35. Upward movement of frame 25 in the direction of arrow 51 in FIG. 3 moves the cam slots 46 upward relative to cam follower rollers 48 pulling all four vertical beams 24 inward in the direction of arrows 10. The horizontal walers 20 being connected with the beams 24 are moved inward with the beams. The walers 20 being connected to the middle vertical gussets 16 thereby pull the core skin 15 inward at the midpoint of each side of the core as illustrated in FIG. 7.

Since the other gussets 17 are not connected with the walers, the walers leave contact with these gussets as the core skin is bowed inwardly. The inward deflection of the core skin 15 in this manner not only pulls the skin away from the four sides of the module M but also pulls the corners inwardly away from contact with the module whereby the module is entirely freed from contact with the core for stripping.

Each L-shaped exterior form E, and E, has an interior sheet metal skin 55 at a distance from the core skin to form a pouring space S for receiving concrete to form the module M. The skin 55 is rigidifled by vertical gusset plates 56 which are welded to the skin and also secured to horizontal walers 60 at midheight. Each exterior form E and E, is a rigid structure supported on trolleys for movement away from the module in stripping as explained in connection with FIG. 7.

Thus the form E, is mounted on three wheels 61 which roll on three parallel tracks 62 as shown in FIG. 1. Each track is equipped with a stop 63 at its outer end to limit the retracting movement. Similarly, the form E, is mounted on three wheels 65 which roll on three parallel tracks 66. Each form carries one end wall and one sidewall of the form.

As shown in FIG. 6, the two meeting comers of the exterior fonns are secured together by horizontal swing bolts 70 which are pivotally mounted at 71 on one form and swing into a notched bracket 72 on the other form for securement by a wingnut 73. The vertical joint between the comers of the forms is closed by a resilient seal strip 74.

Along the four sides of the forms, the space S is closed at the bottom by plate 75 mounted on the upper flanges of l-beams 76 in the pallet frame 31 as shown in FIG. 5. Core skin 15 and exterior form skin 55 abut opposite edges of this plate, the joints being sealed by resilient seal strips 77. The lower edge of core skin 15 is reinforced by a plate 78 which bears at intervals against the heads of adjustable bolts 79 in a flange of bottom waler 20. The lower edges of exterior forms E, and E, are clamped by a series of swing bolts 80. Each swing bolt 80 is pivotally connected at 81 to lbeam 76 to swing into a slotted bracket 82 on the bottom of the exterior form and be secured by a wingnut 83.

To facilitate pouring concrete into the space S, a removable sloping apron 85 is provided as shown in FIGS. 1 and 4. This apron extends around all four sides of the fonn above the core structure. It has an open center, rectangular frame 86 with depending ears 87 having notches at 88 to rest on the upper edges of horizontal plate 89 mounted on the inside of core skin 15.

At the center of each short side and center of each long side, the apron 85 is equipped with a horizontal stay bolt 90 welded to frame 86. When apron is lowered into place, each bolt enters a slot 91 in a bracket 92 on the upper edge of the exterior form and is secured in position by wingnut 93. Lock nuts 94 provide adjustment to control the width of space S. When concrete is poured into the space S, the ears 87 and nuts 93 provide abutments to prevent the core and exterior forms from deflecting away from each other under the fluid pressure of the concrete. Preparatory to stripping, wingnuts 93 are loosened and apron 85 is lifted out of the way.

Window and door opening are provided where desired in the module by inserting rectangular frames (not shown) into the pour space S as is well understood in the art.

Having now described my invention and in what manner the same may be used, what I claim as new and desire to protect by Letters Patent is:

l. A contractable rectangular core for a concrete building module comprising a continuous peripheral flexible metal core skin having vertical sidewalls and end walls, a central vertical gusset plate welded to said core skin at the middle of each of said side and end walls, additional vertical gusset plates welded to said core skin at intervals on opposite sides of said central gusset plates on said sidewalls and end walls, a plurality of vertically spaced horizontal walers connected to said central gusset plate only on each of said sidewalls and end walls, said walers being arranged to bear against said additional gusset plates without being connected thereto, a vertical beam connected to said walers on each of said sidewalls and end walls, a vertically movable core stripping frame within said core, means to raise and lower said frame, and cam and follower connections on four sides of said frame between said frame and said vertical beams; the lowering of said frame pressing said vertical beams and walers outward causing said walers to bear against said additional gusset plates to straighten and stiffen said sidewalls and end walls, and the raising of said frame pulling said sidewalls and end walls inward at said central gusset plates and pulling said walers away from contact with said additional gusset plates.

2. A core as defined in claim 1 including jacks for raising said core stripping frame.

3. A core as defined in claim 1 including wedges between the ends of said walers. 

1. A contractable rectangular core for a concrete building module comprising a continuous peripheral flexible metal core skin having vertical sidewalls and end walls, a central vertical gusset plate welded to said core skin at the middle of each of said side and end walls, additional vertical gusset plates welded to said core skin at intervals on opposite sides of said central gusset plates on said sidewalls and end walls, a plurality of vertically spaced horizontal walers connected to said central gusset plate only on each of said sidewalls and end walls, said walers being arranged to bear against said additional gusset plates without being connected thereto, a vertical beam connected to said walers on each of said sidewalls and end walls, a vertically movable core stripping frame within said core, means to raise and lower said frame, and cam and follower connections on four sides of said frame between said frame and said vertical beams; the lowering of said frame pressing said vertical beams and walers outward causing said walers to bear against said additional gusset plates to straighten and stiffen said sidewalls and end walls, and the raising of said frame pulling said sidewalls and end walls inward at said central gusset plates and pulling said walers away from contact with said additional gusset plates.
 2. A core as defined in claim 1 including jacks for raising said core stripping frame.
 3. A core as defined in claim 1 including wedges between the ends of said walers. 